In the case of cite while you write, my personal guess is that a plugin from a reference management app would require significant number of high level app permissions requiring a large communication link between the word processing and reference management apps a feature hard to achieve within the bounds of the Android kernel architecture, which place security at a premium. Such a feature requires the communication link to be highly protected through encryption. Take for example the “Share” button on many news app, the button opens a communication link between the news app and one of the cloud-based file sharing service apps such as Dropbox. But the more fundamental problem with the lack of citation capabilities on mobile devices is in the need to partition (or sandbox) interface or communication between apps and the need to restrict the types of information shared between apps. From another perspective, can one build a citation using a reference management app and cut and paste it into a word document in, for example, Word app, through the Android clipboard? The answer is very difficult to impossible depending on the modifications made to Android by specific manufacturers. Not available as a plugin or as an interface between the word processing app and the many reference management apps available on Google Play store, the ability to seamlessly (i.e., with a few clicks) bring a reference item in a reference management app to a citation in a word processing app is not present in Android. However, the ability to cite an article is missing in almost all Android word processing apps such as Microsoft Word, WPS Office, Google Docs, Polaris Office etc. Incorporated as a plugin in major word processing software such as Microsoft Word and LibreOffice, the feature is also present in some web-based citation management tools such as Endnote Basic and WizFolio.

Cite while you write is an essential tool for scientists to cite the literature they referred to in their manuscript and is present in all desktop reference management software such as Endnote, Zotero, and Reference Manager.

Android endnote app